Cooking in a restaurant kitchen after college left Michael Gomez Daly with one definite impression: There is a caste system in the United States, and he wanted to do something about it.

“I was doing restaurant work because I couldn’t find a job after college; it was 2009” — the tail-end of the Great Recession, Gomez Daly said. “I had no skills and no experience, but I was the only Anglo-looking guy in the kitchen. I kept getting titles and responsibilities I had no business having just because of how I looked.”

This month, because of his work using technology to boost voting and civic involvement in underrepresented populations including blacks, Latinos and Asians, Gomez Daly received a $225,000 fellowship from The Rosenberg Foundation’s new Leading Edge Fund.

For the next three years, the 32-year-old Corona resident will develop software and strategies to let grassroots political organizations analyze public data and help them identify and encourage Californians of color who are eligible to vote, but who don’t always do so.

The $2 million Leading Edge Fund, created in partnership with the Hellman Foundation, is in its first year of operation. Gomez Daly is one of eight new Leading Edge Fellows, each working to remove barriers to opportunity in areas of criminal justice, immigrant rights and racial justice. The fellows will receive technical assistance with strategy, program design, fundraising and communications.

“We need to take a giant leap in order to put an end to business as usual and get rid of policies that have oppressed communities of color and low-income communities for decades,” said Tim Silard, president of the San Francisco-based Rosenberg Foundation. “Justice, civil rights and equity are issues that are of utmost importance for California’s future. It is our privilege to support these incredible leaders to take risks and address these issues.”

Gomez Daley grew up in the San Bernardino area influenced by family members who cared deeply about social justice: “My aunts, especially, instilled those values,” he said. “They made sure (social justice) was a priority for me, too.”

He graduated from Loma Linda Academy, worked with AmeriCorps doing public service work and in 2009 earned bachelor’s degrees from UC Riverside in history and religious studies.

Always good with computers, Gomez Daly found a passion for databases during his first political campaign, David McKenna’s unsuccessful run for San Bernardino city attorney in 2011. He took a weekend to learn the workings of a voter contact database, he said, and used it to make canvassing easier and more efficient.

Ever since, he has been building databases and strategies — both as a volunteer for political campaigns and for his job at PowerPAC.org, which works to increase voter participation among underrepresented communities.

After winning the fellowship, he quit his job to focus on creating database software and strategies for grassroots organizations.

“The fellowship gives me time and resources to focus on my tech skills,” he said.

He plans to take classes to increase his readiness for the new challenge.

Leading Edge Fund organizers chose Gomez Daly as a fellow because of his vision to “democratize democracy,” said Program Director Lateefah Simon.

“Michael has always worked behind the scenes, as the oil on the wheels,” she said. “We want to get him out front with a pedestal and a megaphone.”

Political databases of the kind Gomez Daly envisions are available commercially, he said, but using them is too expensive for groups without much funding. They also take a lot of skill to operate, and don’t focus on people of color. His project will be open-source – anyone can use it for free – and will not require advanced computer skills to operate.

“It’s going to be user-friendly, and I’m hoping we can build it in a way that lets it evolve as needed every year,” he said. “We’re going to build it and bring it along.”

To learn more about the fund or read about the other Leading Edge Fellows, please visit: http://leadingedge.rosenbergfound.org

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